Access to Canadian investment capital a draw, but don’t expect local industry to change much, advocates say

In this Sept. 24, 2018 photo, a pin promoting Crop King Seeds, with the colors and maple-leaf logo of the Canadian flag, is displayed on a package of marijuana seeds for sale at the Warmland Centre, a medical marijuana dispensary in Mill Bay, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island in Canada. On Oct. 17, 2018, Canada will become the second and largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)Ted S. Warren

Nationwide recreational marijuana legalization makes Canada a fertile landscape for ganjaprenuers. While some Colorado companies are already cashing in on opportunities north of the border, the effect on the local cannabis landscape is expected to be mostly invisible to consumers, industry advocates say.

People began lining up in the wee hours of Newfoundland timeWednesday morning to make the first legal recreational marijuana purchases in Canadian history. It was a party atmosphere in many places, save for Ontario. That province, home to more than 13 million people and the country’s largest city, Toronto, is still ironing out rules and shops aren’t expected to open for months yet.

“I’m so disappointed,” Colorado cannabis entrepreneur and industry advocate Dan Anglin said Wednesday afternoon from outside his hotel in Toronto. “I was it expecting it to be like Jan. 1, 2014, (the day recreational sales became legal in Colorado) but it is nothing like that here.”

Anglin’s visit to Canada has already been a success. CannAmerica Brands, the company he co-founded and leads as CEO, went live on the Canadian stock exchange Monday, opening at 97 cents Canadian, above his expectations. It closed Wednesday at $1.03 Canadian after a sell off drove many Canadian cannabis stocks down.